1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dental hygiene tools for use by individuals with oral implants. More specifically, the present invention is a floss guiding device designed to assist a user in directing a dental floss threading line into the tight spaces between the user's gum line and his or her oral implant so that a user can feed a strand of dental floss into said space to facilitate effective flossing of the user's teeth and gums around the dental implant.
2. Descriptor of the Prior Art
Poor dental health can lead to a myriad of dental problems. In particular, inadequate or improper flossing can lead to bacteria and plaque buildup around the base of teeth and gums. Gum disease (periodontal disease) is a common result of improper dental flossing, as too is bad breath and gingivitis. Untreated gum disease can lead to gum damage and further oral complications. Proper dental care is important to an individual's overall health and frequent, proper dental flossing is an important part of maintaining good dental hygiene.
Some individuals have dental implants designed to keep their teeth straight, such as braces or permanent retainers. While these implants serve a cosmetic purpose, they often times impact the individual's ability to floss around those teeth that are impacted by the implant. Some implants are cemented against the backside of the teeth, making flossing those teeth a challenge. These types of implants typically lie across several teeth at once, parallel to the gum line, making it difficult to guide dental floss between the teeth and down to the gum line, since the implant lies therebetween. Other dental implants also require flossing care. For example, individuals with dental bridges and dentures are required to floss the area between the implant and the gum line.
Several patents have been granted to devices that attempt to provide users with a means of flossing between their gum line and an oral implant device or prescribes a means of flossing between teeth where an implant prevents flossing the area in a traditional fashion. These prior art devices have several known drawbacks. For example, with the exception of U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,063, each of the identified prior art patents addresses a user's need to floss between teeth, rather than under an implant such as a bridge or denture. Regardless of what area requires flossing, each prior art device requires the user to insert a floss guiding mechanism of some sort through the small space between the teeth and/or under the implant in order to feed a strand of dental floss through the space for a user to floss with. A common problem shared by these prior art devices is the usefulness of each device when the space requiring flossing is too small to accommodate the floss guiding mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,500 to Mabon describes a floss guiding tube for use by individuals who have a dental implant that spans across several teeth; for example, braces or a permanent retainer. The device comprises a small tube which can be inserted in between teeth. The user will feed a strand of dental floss through the tube, and then insert the tube between two of the teeth where an implant prevents the easy use of dental floss. The user must insert the tube between the teeth below the implant, close to the gum line. Once the tube has been inserted, a user can grab onto the strand of dental floss that has been fed through the tube and is now located on the inside of the user's mouth, through the teeth and under the implant close to the gum line. The user will pull back the tube so that the dental floss can make contact with the teeth and gum line and the user will floss in the traditional fashion. Once the user has finished flossing between these two teeth, the user will release the end of the dental floss which is located inside the user's mouth and pull the floss out from between these teeth.
The key to the Mabon device is that the user should not remove the tube from the strand of dental floss after he or she has inserted the tube between the teeth and under the implant, because then the user would have to rethread the tube floss guiding device again in order to floss in between the next pair of teeth. By keeping the floss guiding tube device on the strand of dental floss while flossing—but out of the way while flossing—the user can simply release the end of the dental floss that has been fed through the teeth by the floss guiding tube device, pull the floss out from the freshly flossed teeth and then reset the device quickly and easily to floss the next pair of teeth.
The Mabon device depends on the fact that the floss guiding tube can fit into the space between the teeth and beneath the implant. If the space is too small to accommodate the floss guiding tube, then the device will not function as intended and provide little utility for the user. The present invention is designed to accommodate even the smallest of spaces between teeth.
Another dental floss guiding device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,625 to Siekmann which describes a dental floss threading device for use by individuals with permanent dental implants. The device is an elongated tube having a handle on one end and a threading end with a decreasing diameter terminating in a point at the other. The threading end of the tube, which has the decreasing diameter, also exhibits a compressing of the tube so that the device gets smaller and flatter until reaching the pointed tip. The tube holds inside of it a predetermined amount of dental floss. One end of the dental floss protrudes from the pointed tip of the threading end of the device. The threading end is curved and is used for threading the dental floss between teeth and under a dental implant, while the user holds the device by its handle end.
A user would use the Siekmann device to feed a strand of dental floss in between those teeth that are impacted by a permanent dental implant. The user will stick the threading end of the device all the way through the teeth and yet under the implant so that the threading end of the device is accessible from the inside of the user's mouth. Once the threading end of the device is accessible, a user can grab the protruding piece of dental floss from the device and pull the device out from between the teeth leaving a strand of dental floss in its stead. The user would floss the area in between the teeth and then pull the dental floss back out through the front of the teeth when finished. The user would repeat the process with each pair of teeth which requires flossing that is impacted by the implant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,836 to Peng describes a method for making a dental flossing device comprising a small guide post which is attached to a strand of dental floss. The guide post is a small, thin guide with one end attached to a strand of dental floss and the other end curved slightly. The user would feed the guide post under the implant and between the two teeth which require flossing. The guide has to be pushed all the way through the space between the teeth in order for the user to be able to use the dental floss effectively. The Peng device provides a guide that must fit completely through the space between the teeth and under the implant in order to be used effectively. Some users may be face with the problem that the space between the teeth and under the implant is too small to allow the Peng device guide post to go all the way through the space. The present invention implements the use of a very thin threading line that is fed through the space between the teeth and under the implant. The threading line is then used to pull a strand of dental floss through the space, enabling the user to effectively floss the area no matter how tight the space.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,063 to Smole describes an elongated version of the same concept described in the Mabon patent. The Smole device is an elongated floss guiding tube designed to be inserted between the teeth and under an implant. A user would insert the device between the teeth, but then feed the tube back between an adjoining pair of teeth from the inside of the user's mouth. The user will pull the floss guiding tube through the teeth leaving behind a strand of dental floss for the user to grab onto and use for flossing purposes. Again, like the Mabon device, the effectiveness of the device depends on whether the elongated floss guiding tube can fit into the space between the teeth and beneath the implant. If the space is too small to accommodate the elongated floss guiding tube, then the device is useless to the user. The present invention is designed to accommodate even the smallest of spaces between teeth.
It is therefore submitted that the present invention substantially diverges in design elements from the prior art, and consequently it is clear that there is a need in the art for an improvement to existing dental hygiene tools used by those with permanent dental implants for inserting floss between those teeth where traditional flossing is affected by the existence of a dental implant. In this regard the instant invention substantially fulfills these needs.